I wonder if this works in parts of the world that don't even have 2G...
They'd be much better served by an offline app or a dead-tree book, but that wasn't the point of your comment.
How to learn a language from your news feed (and win a Facebook hackathon)
11–20 of 20 posts
Re: How to learn a language from your news feed (and win a Facebook hackathon)
#12Having studied a foreign language (Brazilian Portuguese) as an adult, my experience is that learning written and spoken language are separate skills. Just because you know a written word doesn't mean that you will recognize it when it is spoken . My experience is that I had to learn every word twice: once as text and again as audio. This was despite the fact that Brazilian Portuguese is much more regular than English…
The language we're talking about makes a big difference here. I have (very) occasionally been mistaken for a native Japanese speaker over the phone, but I have the reading level of a 12 year old at best.
Re: How to learn a language from your news feed (and win a Facebook hackathon)
#13Having studied a foreign language (Brazilian Portuguese) as an adult, my experience is that learning written and spoken language are separate skills. Just because you know a written word doesn't mean that you will recognize it when it is spoken . My experience is that I had to learn every word twice: once as text and again as audio. This was despite the fact that Brazilian Portuguese is much more regular than English…
Having been in the same boat as user 'computador', I second what was said. As an American who has lived in Brazil and Portugal, though, even getting the spoken component down does not always mean full comprehension (as I found out in Portugal). I find myself, sadly, glazing over when Continental Portuguese is spoken because it seems like one long, run-on sentence, spoken inward (if that makes sense, as opposed to Brazilian Portuguese which is spoken outward). It's rather frustrating to be fluent in Brazil (in all ways that matter) but handicapped in Portugal.
Re: How to learn a language from your news feed (and win a Facebook hackathon)
#14What a great use of attention. Someone needs to integrate this with anki.
Although making sentences relevant to the learner is also a big part of language learning, and the FB part does help there. It's almost killing two birds with one stone.
Re: How to learn a language from your news feed (and win a Facebook hackathon)
#15So can I use this? If so, where do I download it? I connected to their site with Facebook but I see nothing about a lock screen.
Re: How to learn a language from your news feed (and win a Facebook hackathon)
#16Having studied a foreign language (Brazilian Portuguese) as an adult, my experience is that learning written and spoken language are separate skills. Just because you know a written word doesn't mean that you will recognize it when it is spoken . My experience is that I had to learn every word twice: once as text and again as audio. This was despite the fact that Brazilian Portuguese is much more regular than English…
written and spoken are quite different at the point of understanding, but mastering written language implies understanding grammar and vocabulary, and that does help with speak too (modulo tolerable pronounciation).
What I mean is, in an absolutely personal opinion/experience:
I still have big troubles understanding spoken hungarian in contrast to written, although pronunciation matches written almost 1:1 I just can't tell the difference between ü u ú Ű) etc.. but at least I can sort of express myself, even if I do it by mispronouncing most words.
So, written does not imply spoken, but it does help.
Re: How to learn a language from your news feed (and win a Facebook hackathon)
#17Having studied a foreign language (Brazilian Portuguese) as an adult, my experience is that learning written and spoken language are separate skills. Just because you know a written word doesn't mean that you will recognize it when it is spoken . My experience is that I had to learn every word twice: once as text and again as audio. This was despite the fact that Brazilian Portuguese is much more regular than English…
Having been in the same boat as user 'computador', I second what was said. As an American who has lived in Brazil and Portugal, though, even getting the spoken component down does not always mean full comprehension (as I found out in Portugal). I find myself, sadly, glazing over when Continental Portuguese is spoken because it seems like one long, run-on sentence, spoken inward (if that makes sense, as opposed to Bra…
If it makes you feel better, spoken Continental Portuguese can be somewhat hard to understand even for us Brazilians. Roughly speaking, it's like the difference between a Southern US accent and a (non-RP) British or Scottish accent.
Although, to be fair, Brazilian dialects too vary a lot in terms of pronunciation.
Re: How to learn a language from your news feed (and win a Facebook hackathon)
#18Has anyone noticed they're showing the Portuguese flag instead of the Spanish one on the opening page? (I do prefer the Portuguese flag, but I would have thought they would get this kind of thing right..)
Re: How to learn a language from your news feed (and win a Facebook hackathon)
#19Having studied a foreign language (Brazilian Portuguese) as an adult, my experience is that learning written and spoken language are separate skills. Just because you know a written word doesn't mean that you will recognize it when it is spoken . My experience is that I had to learn every word twice: once as text and again as audio. This was despite the fact that Brazilian Portuguese is much more regular than English…
Having been in the same boat as user 'computador', I second what was said. As an American who has lived in Brazil and Portugal, though, even getting the spoken component down does not always mean full comprehension (as I found out in Portugal). I find myself, sadly, glazing over when Continental Portuguese is spoken because it seems like one long, run-on sentence, spoken inward (if that makes sense, as opposed to Bra…
I wouldn't sweat it, take a trip to Newcastle(north England) and you'll find that you have no idea what they're saying.
Re: How to learn a language from your news feed (and win a Facebook hackathon)
#20Has anyone noticed they're showing the Portuguese flag instead of the Spanish one on the opening page? (I do prefer the Portuguese flag, but I would have thought they would get this kind of thing right..)
I believe it's the Mexican flag